Appointments

Same-Day Appointments

To book an urgent, same-day appointment, please complete an online form using PATCHS – our online consultation system.

You can submit a form for a clinical request between 7:00am and 10:00am, Monday to Friday.

Forms are reviewed the same day by a Duty Doctor, who will decide who is best placed to help.

Submit an online PATCHS form

If you’re unable to access the internet, call 0161 445 9000 and our team will help complete the form with you.

After 10:00am, call Reception on 0161 445 9000 if you have an urgent problem that can’t wait until the next day.

What to expect

Once your PATCHS form has been submitted:

It will be reviewed and dealt with by one of our Duty Doctors on the same day
The Duty Doctors will decide on the most appropriate clinician to help you
You will then be contacted by one of our Care Coordinators the same day with further instructions or an appointment time

Your appointment could be in person, or over the telephone, depending on the nature of your problem.

If you are unable to complete a PATCHS form and require assistance by phone, our Reception team will ask about the nature of your problem using a triage system developed by our doctors. This helps ensure you are seen by the most appropriate clinician or, where appropriate, directed to local services.

Please note: We operate a same-day appointment system and have a limited number of urgent appointments available each day. In some cases, our Duty Doctor team may assess that your problem can be dealt with in a routine appointment, and you will be contacted by our Care Coordinators who will arrange this at a convenient time for you.

Routine Appointments

Routine appointments can be requested in one of the following ways:

By filling in a PATCHS form
By calling reception on 0161 445 9000
By booking a future appointment directly via PATCHS

After reviewing your PATCHS form, the Duty Doctor may decide that your concern can be safely managed as a routine appointment. This usually happens when:

You’d like to speak to a specific clinician about a non-urgent issue
A clinician has asked you to book a non-urgent follow-up
A clinician needs to talk through your test results

If a routine appointment is the best option, one of our Care Coordinators will get in touch to help you book a convenient time.

We always aim to offer routine appointments within two weeks of your initial contact, though this may vary depending on availability.

Extended Hours – Evening & Weekend Appointments

We know life doesn’t always fit into our 08:00am until 18:30pm core opening hours — which is why we now offer more flexible appointment times.

Barlow Medical Centre is part of a Primary Care Network (PCN), and works in partnership with other local practices to give you more choice, including evening and weekend appointments.

In conjunction with our PCN, we now offer pre-bookable routine appointments during extended hours (evenings until 8pm, and weekends). These may include:

Face-to-face GP appointments
Telephone consultations (weekends only)
Blood tests

You’ll be seen by a member of the general practice team — this might be a GP, nurse, or other healthcare professional, depending on your issue. Appointments will take place at either Barlow Medical Centre or Burnage Health Centre, and while you may see a different clinician than usual, they will have secure access to your full medical records and can care for you just as we would.

To book an extended hours appointment, simply speak to our Reception team, who will be happy to help.

First Contact Practitioner (FCP) physiotherapist appointments

If you have a muscle, joint or bone problem, you can now directly see a First Contact Physiotherapist (FCP) right here at the surgery. FCPs are experienced physiotherapists with additional training, and they’re your first point of contact for these types of issues — without the need to see a GP first.

Seeing an FCP can help you get quicker access to expert advice, a personalised management plan, and if needed, investigations or referrals.

How to Book

You can request an FCP appointment by filling in a PATCHS form or by calling our Reception team — whichever is easier for you.

Continuity of care

We value continuity of care very highly, and will always try to book you with your named GP or preferred clinician whenever possible. This may be difficult for problems requiring urgent assessment, but our team is always here to help and will do their best to accommodate your needs.

Cancelling or changing an appointment

To cancel your appointment:

use your NHS account (through the NHS website or NHS App)
phone us on 0161 445 9000
reply CANCEL to your appointment reminder text message

If you need help when we are closed

If you need medical help now, use NHS 111 online or call 111.

NHS 111 online is for people aged 5 and over. Call 111 if you need help for a child under 5.

Call 999 in a medical or mental health emergency. This is when someone is seriously ill or injured and their life is at risk.

Home visits

If you are housebound and need an appointment, we can arrange to see you at home. To request a home visit, please call reception on 0161 445 9000 and speak to one of our team.

Please call as early as you can, ideally before 9:30am.

You will then receive a phone call from a clinician first to understand more about the problem, and we will arrange a home visit if necessary – which may be later the same day, or on a future date where appropriate.

Booking longer appointments

Please consider whether you will need to book a longer appointment when seeing a clinician. Please ask a member of staff when booking your appointment.

If you need help with your appointment

Please tell us:

if there’s a specific doctor, nurse or other health professional you would prefer to respond
if you would prefer to consult with the doctor or nurse by phone, face-to-face, by video call or by text or email
if you need an interpreter
if you have any other access or communication needs